Fifty Times
by violets92
Summary: He wasn't going to miss his chance again. Megan/Colby. Response to the one sentence, fifty prompts challenge. Spoilers up to at least the end if season three, maybe season four.


This "fic" is written for one of the one sentence, fifty prompts challenges over at livejournal. I love the idea, and the ones I've read are very good. The sentences aren't in any chronological order, they're just random. This is my first try at anything like this, so hopefully you'll like it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Numb3rs...I'm only writing this as a distraction from a particularly tense Roger Federer match.

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_Mortal_

He always seemed invincible to her, but when she sees him lying in that hospital bed, unable to breathe on his own, it hits her that he isn't…and it scares her more than anything.

_Broken_

She hates this feeling, the one that feels like her soul's been ripped in half by duty and what she thinks is right, but when he wraps his arms around her, she feels the tear begin to mend.

_Vanish_

He takes a look around her apartment, looking at the pictures on her mantelpiece, the books lined up in the bookshelves, the countless movies and CDs that she owns, and he's half expecting her to come sauntering out of her bedroom in those red cowgirl pajamas that they both like so much.

_Rain_

She's always loved the rain, so when he takes her under his big black FBI umbrella, she thanks him for the offer, but ducks out the way and lets the raindrops fall on her face once more.

_Ocean_

The first time they really connected was by the ocean, so somehow they're not surprised when months later, her lips are on his and the sounds of crashing waves surround them as they take another step forward in their relationship.

_Tense_

He looks straight at the gravestone in front of him and she sees his shoulders tense…it isn't long before he feels her hand on his shoulder and the muscles begin to relax.

_Soon_

She calls him one day while she's on her confidential assignment at the DOJ, telling him she'll be back soon and that she really needs him to be there the minute she arrives.

_Why_

When she bursts in the door of the freighter and sees his motionless face, she wonders why she ever doubted him in the first place.

_Winter_

Winter just isn't winter without snow, and that's why he takes her to Idaho for the first snow they've seen in two long years.

_Fallen_

She screamed as she fell off the cliff face but in a second he was there, holding onto her arm with all the strength he could muster and as she looked up at his determined face, she knew he'd always be there to catch her…and in that moment she falls for him.

_Storm_

They both stand on the FBI rooftop looking at the purple flashes of lightning and she tries as hard as she can to spot those silver linings people were always talking about, until she finally gives up and just looks at him, wondering if this is some kind of metaphor.

_Door_

She knew that even at three o'clock in the morning, he'd always open the door for her.

_Flash_

When she blocked out the image of Crystal Hoyle in front of her and let her life flash before her eyes, she almost felt guilty that Colby seemed to be making more of an appearance than Larry.

_Wait_

She can't quite get the sound of her own voice yelling "Wait!" before the sound of an explosion out of her head until Colby quietly tells her to wait for him and then it sounds far less frantic, less dangerous, and more comforting than anything she's ever heard.

_Shrine_

When she steps into his room, lit by soft, glowing candles and sees him walking towards her, staring at her with such feeling in his eyes, she begins to feel worshipped.

_Black_

Every time he strolls casually into work wearing _that_ black shirt and _those_ jeans, she can't help letting a small groan of frustration and wonder why God hates her so much.

_Lost_

They've been driving for nearly an hour now and as he hears her growl in annoyance, he smirks knowing full well that he could just tell her to turn right, but it's just too much fun to pretend as if he's lost.

_Cell_

She knows what the jail is like, having made so many visits, but somehow she can't comprehend a man like Colby spending the rest of his life in an eight-by-eight cell.

_Villain_

While he hated being the bad guy more than anything before, he's realized that he hates being a hero even more.

_Road_

They're stuck in morning traffic and even though he knows she's used to it, he asks her whether she's ever wanted to just turn on the siren and run down every single car on the highway.

_Weep_

He's never once seen her cry, but when she lets a tear slip down her cheek at the sight of a particularly bad crime scene photo, he knows he never wants to see it again.

_Blind_

When he sees her link her arm with Larry's and walk away, he wonders how he's been so blind for so long.

_Pact_

They promise each other that instead of getting smashed at a bar after a bad case, they'd find solace in each other instead.

_Flight_

He knows she hates flying, so when the plane they're on shakes with turbulence, he grabs her hand and tells her to hang on.

_Hard_

He knows their job is hard, but when she turns up at his apartment one night to talk about her DOJ assignment, he knows it was so much harder for her to let what she'd witnessed go unnoticed.

_War_

She sees the look in his eyes after he kills someone and she knows that the war hasn't ever really left him.

_Deed_

She's had the worst morning in history, but she still smiles at the Latte-To-Go cup that sits on her desk every morning and she doesn't even need to look over to his desk to know it was him that put it there.

_Unknown_

She has no idea why she has these feelings for him, but she's never felt them before, not even with Larry, and the fact that she's in uncharted waters terrifies her because regardless of the situation, she's always known what to do, but now, she has to let him take the lead.

_Deep_

The water they're swimming in is deep, but she feels safe because he's the one that's holding her up.

_Sudden_

Colby's never been one for subtle hints, so it almost doesn't come as a surprise when one minute she's bantering with him, and the next, she's being backed against the wall with his lips against hers.

_Dread_

She sees the gunshot and within a second Colby's lying on the ground and she gasps, squatting beside him, her hands ripping at his shirt and her heart begins to beat again as she sights the bullet lodged in his bulletproof vest.

_Burn_

He smirks as he arrives at her kitchen, the smell of charred food floating out the door…"Somehow I never took you for the cooking type," he says, and his reflexes allow him to dodge the half-hearted punch she aims at him.

_Clock_

They sit for what seems like hours, both staring at the clock, and the second it reaches five o'clock, they're both racing to the elevator, knowing full well that whoever gets there first will hold the door open anyway.

_Words_

He pulls back from her lips, and for the first time in her life, words fail her.

_Fast_

Larry's car never drove all that fast, so when Colby buys a new sports car with the money he got for being a hero, she jumps at the chance to get the wind whipping through her hair.

_Three_

Her favorite number had always been three, and Colby knew it, and that's why on her birthday, he adorned her desk with three daffodils, three balloons – one green, one purple and one blue and the three presents from him, Don and David…he'd wait until after work to give her his other three presents though.

_Place_

Sometimes she felt as if she didn't belong anymore, but by just telling her to "hang in there," he'd helped her redefine her place.

_Irony_

Treason committed by a guy that was so stuck to duty, honor and chivalry…she knew there was a reason she didn't believe it.

_Sky_

She looks up at the sky, wondering how it can have two different meanings for two different men.

_Closet_

He's going through her closet one day – purely because David dared him – and he's slightly disappointed to find nothing incriminating, until he reaches the back and finds the leg warmers and _those_ red cowgirl pajamas…and he smiles knowing that she's _so_ going to kill him for this.

_Real_

They're searching through crime scene evidence, and as she sees the little girl's bloodstained sweater, she asks him if it's for real…he relies simply, "Yeah, but so is this," and the feeling of his lips moving over hers is so comforting that she almost forgets about the horror of the real world.

_Fair_

"That's so not fair, Granger!" she says as she climbs into the passenger side of the car and waits for the cocky answer she knows is coming… "_Life's_ not fair Megan."

_Knot_

It's the second time she's been held hostage, and this time it's far worse, so she almost cries in relief as Colby bashes in the door and immediately reaches behind her to undo the knot in the rope, telling her she's going to be okay.

_Low_

They're both crouched low in the car seats, Megan holding the binoculars, when she shuffles and winces and immediately he offers her a back rub the minute the stakeout's over.

_Well_

He isn't feeling well at all, so when she sees him blowing his nose and coughing, she buys him a box of cold and flu tablets without a second thought.

_Token_

She'd kept the token from the amusement park he took her to, and she couldn't help but pull it out and look at it every time she reached into her coat pocket for something.

_Ugly_

He catches her one day in summer looking at the scar on her arm on disgust, and he tells her with more conviction than she's ever heard from him that she looks beautiful anyway.

_Lure_

He steps into her apartment, not knowing what does it…but when he sees her takes off her coat and jacket to get them some beer, he knows it's just the irresistible pull that she has on him

_Drink_

He doesn't drink often…she knows, but when he does, he's happy, and that's why she doesn't bother to shove him away when he tells her she's pretty and kisses her with a smile on his face.

_Dust_

When the dust begins to fall, and he sees her without Larry and without any despair, he's quick to realize he's not going to miss his chance again.

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A/N: So what'd you think? Should I just give these up all together? Or is it any good? 


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